Is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ruining the NBA?

When I was younger, I recall the pure amazement of watching Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and other greats in the NBA. Then I remember seeing Shaq, Kobe, and others come in and change the game. While they changed the game, they didn’t make the game worse; they just added some flavor to it. I would even say they helped basketball evolve.

There have certainly been players in the modern era of the NBA that have also had similar impacts on the game. Players like Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Victor Wembanyama have forced teams to change how they play—they have changed how the entire association plays the game.

However, there is one player that is extremely frustrating to watch. Don’t get me wrong, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a very talented player, defending champion, and defending league MVP. Not to discredit Shai, but both of those accolades do have a large * next to them.

Shai’s game is extremely dependent on two things that infuriate a lot of NBA fans and feel like they are potentially damaging the integrity of the NBA—foul baiting and the “chicken wing”.

Now, the first has been going on for a while across many players, but Shai has taken it to a new level. So much of his game is based on getting foul calls, and that in itself is fine. What isn’t okay is the irregularity with which calls are made for Shai vs. against Shai (more on that in the chicken wing section). Reports that have emerged saying the Thunder team philosophy encourages players to be extra aggressive are very concerning. One of the articles I read mentioned that the team calculates that playing overly aggressive means referees can’t whistle every foul they commit due to how much it would slow down the pace of the game.

That might be a strategically sound idea, but it goes against the spirit of the game. It sounds similar to hacking into a computer with a buffer overflow. Except the Thunder are attempting to overwhelm the officials to get away with calls. Remember when I said Shai’s MVP and the OKC chip both have an * next to them? Stuff like this is why people feel that way.

The second part of this is the “chicken wing” move. Long story short, it’s an offensive foul. However, the way the arm is held is designed to hide the foul from the official and make it look like the defender just lost their footing. If your team has a strategy that involves specifically hiding things from the officials, that might be an indication you are doing something wrong.

Hopefully, by the start of the 2026-2027 NBA season, Adam Silver and his team will have policies in place to control the rise in these “chicken-wing” shove-off fouls and lower the foul baiting. Some things are legitimate strategies, but these are not. This is exploitation of the game.